


Transformers: Unwanted Soldier

by Wolfette91



Category: Transformers (Bay Movies)
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-13 01:20:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18022094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wolfette91/pseuds/Wolfette91
Summary: She was their friend, their ally, and their teammate. They trusted her, looked up to her and followed her when the commander wasn't around. She was their medic, their infiltrator, their spy and all around good soldier. Until she abandoned them to the fire, to their deaths. Meet Acirah Byrnes, Daughter of world renowned soldier Amara Byrnes; deceased in battle. She only ever wanted to make her mother proud... could she be proud of a soldier who left their team behind? She would dedicate her life to fulfill her teams dream that died with them, to join the special operation called N.E.S.T. But what was a girl supposed to do when everyone hated her for her past? Especially the hot owner of the yellow Lamborghini, though he seemed to just hate everything in general... and the ever so suspicious weapons specialist with the bad attitude?SunstreakerxOcxSideswipe





	1. Opening

I've never for a moment looked back on my life...

**_ "Breath!" _ **

I'd only ever looked forward. From the moment I had been born I had my eye's set before me to the future... from the happiest times, to the darkest I never once allowed myself to look back. Just kept looking forward. Perhaps if I had looked back... reflected on everything, then I may have seen the signs... Maybe if I hadn't been so naive to think I could take on the world; I could have done something to prevent what took place that fated day.

**_ "Come on Acirah breath!" _ **

Tell me, who do you turn to when one's faith is at it's lowest? Who do you turn to when hope is but a small ray in the darkest of night? Who do you turn to when it seems as if the world has completely given up, letting the darkness settle within their hearts? When something that need's to be done, something that is almost guaranteed to fail and end in death; or when one's inner strength has failed and is at its all time low with not a glimmer of hope- only promising to fall into the utter ashes of failure and death forever drowning in the deep reaches of helplessness.... that is when you could say that you can turn to us.

**_ "Primus, breath soldier!" _ **

**_ "Please, I need you... WE need you!" _ **

We were once known world wide as the Alpha squad; a squadron of scientifically engineered Soldiers fitted for intense battles- Special Opps. Our team was filled with dare devils, risk takers, overly confident soldiers with ballsy attitudes and unfailing determination to get the job done. Fighting was in our blood, embedded deep within our VERY soul, our DNA by the scientists who had experimented on us.

With our permission of course.

**_ "Byrnes you open your eye's right now, you stay with me soldier!" _ **

**_ "Do something!" _ **

We lived for the thrill of the hunt, we desired battle, we thirsted for the all too familiar adrenaline that raged through the body when faced with danger and life threatening situations. WE, The Alpha squad lived NOT to fight for the country, but the entire world. A team special picked, compromising of one of almost every race. We were the best of the best, top dogs, and the ones who many relied upon in a pinch.

**_ "Come one, breath... breath! We're losing her!" _ **

**_ "No, no! Acirah!" _ **

We weren't afraid to take on a mission and for a while we seemed to be unstoppable... at least, we once were.

My name is Acirah Byrnes and I was once like them. I was a happy go lucky risk taker, I was a dare devil with ballsy attitude and enough sarcasm to make teenager's jealous. I was ready for any challenge in my path and filled with a confidence and disregard to my own safety that put many to shame... I was once their warrior.

Once their spy..

...Once their infiltrator...

I-I was once their ally and truest friend, their sister in arms and teammate. They trusted me, they looked up to me when the commander was not around and they looked to me to lead when all else failed...

**_ "Please come back to me..." _ **

A-and I often asked my self through the years, was it for the best that they had trusted me so? Was it for the best that they looked up to me?

No.

NO!

It wasn't...

Because I betrayed them in the end.

And I left them to the fire.


	2. Welcome To N.E.S.T

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meet Acirah Byrnes, Ex Soldier to a legendary group called the Alpha Squad. Her life after her team died was hell but it was what she deserved. At least that is what she thought of herself. But to her surprise she'd finally been accepted into the new branch of the military called N.E.S.T. A group her team dreamed of joining when they were still alive. Now it was up to her to fight for their dream and get her place as a N.E.S.T soldier, if only for her team...

_Fire... Screaming..._

_Why was there so much fire?_

_Heavy breaths escaped her, coming out in harsh pants and back in like greedy gulps that couldn't satisfy the desire for air. The pounding and stinging from her heart made her grasp at her chest in desperation as she looked around frantically while fear threatened to drown her very being._

_"Amala!" The scream tore from her lips as her tearing eye's searched for any sign of her friend, of her team mate. "Amala!"_

_Echoing screams filled the air in the distance, blood curdling and heart pulling screams that were the only indication to what direction they were... from the direction she'd fled from._

_"Please! Anybody!"_

_Shaking hands slowly reached up to her head, knocking off her helmet to grasp harshly at her strands of fiery red hair and her breathing coming out more harshly, hyperventilating as she tried to block the noise out. Her body shook at the flames closing in on her a long with the smoke that tore coughs out of her trembling frame. Explosions began to sound in the deep far reaches of the building, and she willed her legs to move... To get to safety._

_But they just wouldn't budge._

_The building rumbled, shook and groaned. It shifted with each explosion, sending her crashing to the ground harshly and making her scramble for her helmet to protect her head. She cried as her hands reached out and desperately grasped upon the filthy ashen ground while the flames closed in, pulling herself across the floor into a random direction in hopes to get away. Any direction that would get her out of the flames path... and away from the horrendous screaming and inky black clouds of smoke._

_But the fire caught up with her, and her voice rose in volume to mach the screams she'd been fleeing from while the fire ate away at her cloths and flesh. She pulled and crawled through the fire and ash, onward in a never ending agonizing crawl filled with her own pained yowls and cries as fire tore at her... a path that couldn't end sooner!_

_And suddenly it was dark and her breathing stopped as everything disappeared.._

_Suddenly there was nothing and the roaring flames dispersed._

_No sound, no feeling, no light._

_Darkness._

_And then just as sudden as the darkness and silence- there was movement, muffled but there. She felt herself shift while the world around her morphed. Images of battle danced behind her eyelids, flickering by like an old film while the pitter patter of rain tapped in the distance..._

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

_Where was she?_

_Feeling started to came back to her along with the agonized pain of the burns that thrummed and soothed with each splatter of icy rain drops. Her eye's flung open and she hissed as the light around her blared and blurred her vision, obscuring anything and everything around her while making her head pound in a rhythm much like a beating drum._

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

_She suddenly found herself confused, how did she get there? WHERE was there? She could feel the soft yet grainy damp grass beneath her and she could tell that she was alone. Not a single life form near by, not even an animal. Her eye's clenched back shut as a wave of nausea and dizzyness washed over her and her mind caught up with her. Warriors, Soldiers fighting in a building a blaze in the distance and smoke rising in the air that filled the lungs with festering smoke burning the lungs._

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

_Faces, familiar, flashed and she flinched back into what she assumed was bark from a fallen tree. They were her allies, a strangled cry left her as she lay in the ash covered grass and sobs wracked her body while she took sorrow filled resignation that she was alone._

_And she deserved every pain filled moment of it._

_Because they were gone... and she'd done nothing._

Hazel eye's snapped open and Acirah Byrnes shot out of her cot awash in a cold sweat. Chest heaving with each harsh breath, her shaking hand caressed her slick forehead and a groan escaped her body. Another night and another nightmare taunting her of memories from the past, one of which she desperately wished she could forget and escape from. But, to do that she would be freeing herself from any and all forms of punishment- one of which she self appointed to herself for her failure. A quick glance to the side informed her that it was still 2 hours until the morning trumpet sounded, alerting all other's in base and waking them for their morning jobs.

Her gaze swept from her cot and over to the right side of the room, staring at the empty cots that lined the walls filled with dust and cobwebs. Years had passed since any living being inhabited those cots, and more would pass before any would dare enter and attempt to claim them as their own... not that she kept them from claiming the beds as their own, but the mere thought and memory of those who previously owned them followed by the knowledge that one such as she inhabited the room drove them away.

Knowing that she wouldn't be getting back to sleep anytime soon, Acirah rolled out of bed, grabbed some cloths, and proceeded to head down towards the wash racks for a shower before anyone else got up. The halls were silent as other's slept, only barely lit by the floor lights. The walls were grey and immaculately clean, not a speck of dirt lay on them nor the ground but the air was forever filled with the smell of sweat, machinery, oil, dirt, firewood, and gunpowder creating the natural smell of the base she resided on.

Finishing her trek down halls and corridor's, Acirah made her way into the wash racks and proceeded to strip her cloths, making sure to avoid looking at her reflection and the scar's that lay hidden underneath the layers she normally would wear. Those were also a reminder of her failure and the disfigurement would forever more stay as that.

A reminder.

Sucking in a breath, Acirah washed her body and hair before rinsing and drying off. She shoved on her undergarments and then the typical Army pants and a white tank top, opting to leave her jacket tied around her waste. Then she gathered her dirty sleeping outfit and headed back to her room to deposit them into the dirty cloths hamper before heading back out of her room and down another hall that lead to the training room. Since she knew she wouldn't be sleeping anytime soon and the trumpet wouldn't sound for another 96 minutes she would work out and pass the time.

It was about thirty minutes into her work out that her mind started to ease from her nightmare, her fist violently rapping against the punching bag as she beat away her anger and frustrations. Each punch and kick felt like an ease to her emotions and she continued this pattern until she felt less tense as time went on, even going so far into it as to be startled when the trumpet sounded signalling the daily routines of the Military base. Huffing to herself, Acirah quickly made her way back to her dorm to clean up; being sure everything seemed immaculately clean before rushing out with the rest of the soldiers.

And like every day, she ignored the whispers that followed after her.

She ignored the looks and the staring eye's as she followed the crowd of warriors to do their daily training and work outs, not that she needed the training but what else was she supposed to do? She didn't have any missions, or a team to do said missions with! She couldn't go out with anyone else deployed, and honestly right now she was just awaiting news from the higher ups about her transfer.

A transfer to a team that her's had dreamed about since their boss told them about it. She could still remember their excitement at the news, of a new special ops team formed to protect a government secret SO big it could change the entire world. They hadn't known the details, only that the secret had to do with living beings that were being protected but also helped protect them against an unknown enemy. Finally some excitement for them! But then they had to take that final mission before they would attempt to get into the special ops group...

Acirah shook her head at the reminder, growling internally for even looking back in the first place before preforming her usual duties. Training, training, helping train new recruits, and more training. It was nearing afternoon hour's when something new happened, something she hadn't expected to be TODAY of all days.

As Acirah pushed up from her position, puffing out air and growling at the amount of accumulating dirt that started clinging to her frame thanks to the down pour of rain, she ignored the sneer's of her superior as she was forced to continue doing pushups as a punishment for doing something wrong... According to them anyway. It was THEN that she heard the sloshing of feet in the thick mud as a middle aged man with greying hair and steely eye's made his way over to the only two remaining soldiers. He was immaculately clean for walking out into the rain and mud, the other soldiers in the cafeteria for lunch before they returned to work, and he paused beside the two to cast down a sneering glare.

"Sargent Larson Sir!" Her superior who issued her punishment shouted with a solute, getting a nod and then jerk of the head to the side to signal dismissal.

"Get up maggot!" Sargent Antonio Larson now addressed her and Acirah let out a breath before standing on her feet and wincing as her muscles tightened painfully from her previous workout. "You're being transferred today."

Blinking back her surprise, and partial elation to do SOMETHING other then mil about this accursed base, she stood at attention as her superior continued to speak.

"To a special ops team in Diego Garcia known as N.E.S.T. You'll be transferred there via helicopter and placed under the teachings of Major William Lennox's choice." Larson paused before casting her another disgusted look. "Not that you deserve such a privilege out of every able bodied soldier here."

"Sir, yes sir." She kept her expression emotionless, her tone monotone else it be used against her.

"Good. Now go pack your things and get off my base!"

"Sir, yes sir." She saluted before turning on her heal and marching off through the mud. As soon as she made it inside, Acirah made her way to the room to grab a new set of cloths before heading to the wash racks to shower and change cloths yet again. Once that was done, she went back to her quarters for her things.

Her hands shook as she packed, she was elated to leave this place, to finally leave this hell hole but she was also nervous. She shoved all her items into her packs, not that there was much to begin with, and zipped it closed before turning towards something she hadn't worn in a long time.

Her squadrons outfit.

Trembling hands grasped the outfit, caressing it gently as she thought to herself a moment; could she wear this? Could she once again bare the symbolical outfit only her team had worn? The outfit had the normal cammo coloring to it, but also had special added features and patches only HER team hard worn to signal who they were and what they did. She scowled momentarily, caught in a brief case of indecision before nodding to herself and dispersing herself of the outfit she wore to place on the one she had been grasping at. It had been her teams dream to join this special ops called N.E.S.T and she would honor their dream and wear their uniform... Acirah then grasped her favorite part of the uniform, her helmet and mask, before shoving her long red hair into a ponytail and hiding the locks within her suit before shoving her helmet on, leaving the mask off for now.

She was ready... She thought to herself as she took in her reflection, briefly being brought back to the past when the team had first been rewarded with their very own specified uniforms.

It was time to honor her squad's final dream, to join N.E.S.T.

"I've finally done it." She spoke softly, hands reaching out to a large collection of dogtags that held the names of her fallen comrades. "I'm finally on my way to the teams goal..." She closed her eye's for a moment to imagine the faces of each member, remembering them grinning when their boss had first told them about the special mission they would be deployed to once their next one was finished. "I promise to make you all proud..." She swore as she picked up the tags and placed them upon her neck, baring the memories of each member.

...

...

...

Have you ever seen the view from a helicopter?

The view was actually gorgeous! Once one got over the entire ' _Oh god, oh god we're gonna die! Holy shit I'm so damn high up! Oh god, oh my god what if something goes wrong and we crash AH!!_ ' then everything was absolutely peachy.

The large Whop whop whop ( _ **An; Oppa Gangnam style~ ... no? Okay.**_ ) of the blades faded into the background as Acirah peered outside of the window, tuning out the world while she took in the scenery. The cloud coverage, covering them and obscuring the view once in a while, finally had cleared a while ago giving way to the many hues of green and brown of the lands beneath them that had stretched on and on of hours until changing to the darker shades of blue of the water. Often, birds would fly by or sometimes in the distance and creatures of the sea broke the surface of the seemingly gentle waves in the ocean.

The view was nice compared to the constant one she had back on the base always consisting of the building walls, constant rainfall causing mud to always cake soldiers boots and pants; even shirts and faces of those most unfortunate to get the punishments of pushups. She wondered how different N.E.S.T would be? Would they know about everything like her base did? Would they turn away from her? Acirah felt her heart pounding a little before mentally scolding herself for acting like a nervous kid transferring to a new school and she was brought back to reality by the sound of the pilot talking through the radio.

"-asking for a landing."

She blinked to reality before turning her head to the pilot to listen in to what he was saying all the while the helicopter drew nearer and nearer to an island in the water known as Diego Garcia. And what Acirah didn't know was that this transfer would change her very life...

-Roger that Bleakmeldoy, you are clear for landing.-

The pilot turned from watching where he was steering and tossed back a smirk to her. "Ladies and gentleman, we are cleared for landing. Please keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times until we land and thank you for choosing Bleakmeldoy as your flight." Said pilot chuckled while she sighed exasperatedly and made a show of rolling her eye's before squeaking when the flying death trap descended towards a landing pad.

Heart pounding, hears roaring with blood as she was sure her blood pressure went up in her anxiousness; Acirah watched as they landed and a few soldiers came out of an army vehicle to pick her up.

She assumed anyway.

Three soldiers talked within the vehicle while the driver had already left the vehicle to make his way over to her as she clambered out of the helicopter and grabbed her things. Nervous, She adjusted her helmet and outfit in her anxious figitting while a brown haired soldier came up to her with a name tag 'Major William Lennox' on his chest. Another notable thing about him was the air of confidence and the weird N.E.S.T patch upon his shoulder with an odd face in the middle of the patch.

Before she could stare longer in curiosity, Acirah quickly stood at attention once he was in hearing range. "You must be Acirah Byrnes." He started loudly to be heard over the helicopter that took off once more to do who knows what. "I'm Major Lennox, We thought you'd got lost!"

"My apologies Sir!"

"Follow me to the rest of the new recruits, we'll have to drive a bit of a way's to get there." Lennox said before helping with her bags and leading her to the vehicle.

"Heyyyy you found her!" A dark skinned man grinned from the passenger seat while the other two looked over with a blink. "Thought you'd gotten lost."

Acirah ducked her head a little, grumbling to herself mentally while Lennox explained what the pilot had stated; On the way there they had encountered a storm and had to take a longer route, ergo they arrived later then thought. She'd probably only have just enough time for introduction and then room assignments before sleep, making her wonder what exactly she'd be doing here...

"Guys, This is Acirah Byrnes." Lennox introduced once they got to the vehicle, leading Acirah into the back a long with her bags, before a chorus of _'Eyyy, Yo's and howd'ya do?_ ' sounded out. "Acirah, this is Robert Epps, Jorge Figueroa but everyone calls him Figgs, and Graham Benjamin. ( _ **An; I literally have no idea what his last name is so... DEAL WITH IT!**_ )

"Hey, Hey chika you ever have Alligator meat?" The one known as 'Figs' who was a Mexican man, questioned.

It was this question that caused the entire group to groan in aggravation and Robert Epps whirled around in his seat to face Figgs, "Why you gotta ask everyone that question?"

Figs raised his hands in defense while spluttering. "You cant be the only one to hate the stuff! There's gotta be SOMEONE who has taste."

"I'll show you taste." Epps grumbled to himself and Figgs huffed before suddenly going off in a fit of Spanish. "How many times do we have to tell you? English!"

It was this exact thing that made Figgs more upset before he complained about being deprived of his heritage and then complained even more in Spanish. Having enough, the one introduced as Graham turned around and with an amused smirk he spoke. "English motherfucker do you speak it?"

The inhabitants of the vehicle all went silent and stared at Graham who frowned when he didn't get the reaction he'd wanted. Instead they, excluding Acirah who was half tempted to tune them all out after they reverted to their argument, stared with gaping mouths. Feeling a little sorry for the guy Acirah cleared her throat causing the rest to turn to her briefly. "Pulp fiction." She gave a feint smile before turning to Figs, ignoring Grahams cheer that at least ' _she_ ' got it, "And no I havn't tried Alligator meat, but you got me curious."

"Now that's just nasty." Epps said. "Don't encourage him please!"

"Hey if she's curious then I'm not gonna discourage her." Figs complained before promptly turning to Acirah and began a long, long tale about how his mama makes the most succulent alligator meat.

She may or may not have regretted it...

During the drive from the landing point up to the main part of the base on the island, Acirah half payed attention to the yammering of Figs and the talking of Graham to Epps and Lennox; in favor of taking in the surroundings for future use. The path they drove was through a Forrest, the islands being bigger then she thought it had been, but it was quite beautiful and she was glad it was so different then her old base so far. It wasn't until the tree's thinned out and a large military base bigger then she'd ever seen before started to come into view making her gulp nervously as her feeling of being the new kid to a school began to take over once more.

Her hazel eye's swept over the soldiers that were marching around base to the rhythmic shouts of their squadron leader, making her almost get sent into a flashback of when her and her squad were just newbies having to go through the many, many drills a private had to. Other's could be seen tinkering about upon military vehicles or weapons; giving way that their positions were mechanics by the job they were doing and the fact that they were covered almost head to toe in oil and dirt to signify the hard work they were doing to keep the vehicles and or weapons up to par. Then there were the younger soldiers who were running around cleaning in what she assumed would be for making mistakes and were now doing their punishment, even some flinching back as the more seasoned soldiers barked orders while they cleaned or to other's who were training.

"All right maggots!" Her body tensed and her head shot to the location of the shout before her eye's sat upon a group of blue eyed soldiers all standing before vehicles that one wouldn't really think would be on a military base.

The first one to catch her eye's was a well built black haired male dressed in a jean jacket and army pants. His face held a bit of facial stubble and his stern eyes often gave way to a deep hidden kindness as he watched the soldiers and rookies miling about. His well toned arms were folded against his chest as he watched and her gaze shifted to his name tag reading _'Orion Pax'_. Just by his stance Acirah could feel leadership wafting off of him and when he turned to her after feeling her stare, Acirah quickly switched her gaze else where and found herself staring at the large vehicle behind him that oozed power as well. Behind this male was a blue and red flamed Peterbilt truck with an odd face upon its grill, the sheer size of it made her feel dwarfed but she brushed it off.

Next to Orion Pax was a brown messy haired male with glasses dressed in a white lab coat leaning against a white and orange Rescue hummer ( _ **An; For those of you confused why I changed the color its because I fell in love with Transformers Prime Ratchet and I'm using his coloring.**_ ) Upon his white lab coat lay a name tag reading ' _Ryan Chett_ ' and his expression showed complete disdain for being where he currently was. Like he had better things to do then to sit there and be introduced to all the new recruits. Beside him was the male that had barked the earlier statement, a large muscular and intimidating man (dressed in a white shirt, name tag ' _Ian Hyde_ ' and army pants) with brown hair and scar's littering his body. The more prominent one was upon one of his eyes, speaking of which the eyes that drank in all the people before them were hardened and stern, warn by war from what she could tell, and behind him was a monstrous GMC Topkick.

"Listen up!" Came his bark and she watched as his gaze swept over the new recruits while a scowl marred his lips. But Acirah's attention just wasn't on him as she suddenly switched when two new vehicles came into the main hangar, the noise and entrance making over half the people in the room pause to glance over as well.

Entering the main hangar were not one but TWO Lamborghini's, one golden and one silver, roaring in at a fast pace before drifting to a U turn around all of the new recruits to park next to the others. The loud engines and screech of the tires, let alone the sheer proximity they'd been, caused over half the new recruits to squeal in fear of being run over and shuffle together. However Acirah remained where she stood through the duration of the flashy entrance and turn, and could very faintly feel the oddly warm metal of the silver one brush against her ever so slightly.

Once the flashy entrance and parking was complete, a set of twins exited the vehicles and Acirah felt herself stare for a moment. Out of the silver vehicle stepped a short haired dirty blonde male with a dark blue jacket, name tag ' _Sid Twyne_ ', over a white shirt. His face, set in a mischievous Cheshire grin, took in all the new people before him and if Acirah could guess she SWORE he was drinking in the new 'toys' to play with from what his expression was telling her. Out of the golden vehicle, stepped an ever scowling male matching the first but his hair was a bit longer and seemed painstakingly brushed back giving him a bit of a... well the only way to explain it would be a sexy wind blown hair look if you asked her. Upon his body lay a blue jean jacket, name tag ' _Sean Twyne_ ' but no shirt underneath and black pants. Both of the twins eye's were looking through the group but the more mischievous one suddenly set his eye's on her and remained, making her feel uncomfortable and shift from her spot.

Luckily her expression was hidden by her helmet and mask.

"Flashy as always." A female voice grunted and Acirah turned to see three identical motorcycles colored blue, pink, and purple with three females in front of it. A blonde with an annoyed expression donning a blue outfit of which Acirah couldn't' quite make out and a name tag ' _Aria Cele_ ', a Brunette with a purple outfit and a confident smirk as she watched and a name tag ' _Mia Chrome_ ', and a Redhead with matching cloths with a quizzical look as she watched on with a name tag ' _Flora Upton'_.

"You know you liked It Aria." Sid grinned widely making the girl roll her eye's in annoyance.

"You're late and loud." Was all she said before turning her attention back to Ian who was glaring in aggravation at the interruption.

It was then that he'd noticed new recruit Acirah Byrnes still watching the new entries and he growled low at the lack of attention when he'd called for it. "Byrnes!" He barked out after reading her own name tag and watched as she quickly turned to him and stood at attention, but it was the emotion in her Hazel colored eye's that made him freeze and be reminded of all the old recruits he'd used to train.

The same haunted and near defeated look.

He blinked back the memories and thoughts when she spoke, "Sir?"

"Is there something more interesting then listening to your commanding officer?" He growled after recovering.

Acirah almost balked back, cursing mentally for not listening to Lennox earlier when he CLEARLY must of said who her commanding officer would be. "No sir."

"Then WHY are you finding it difficult to listen to said commander?"

She shifted. "My apologies commander Hyde, I was taking in my surroundings." She replied, might as well be honest right?

She watched as his eye's narrowed at her. "What is your full name maggot?" She forgot her name tag had only her last name.

"Acirah Byrnes."

"Rank." He demanded more then asked.

She knew this would come, "Spy, infiltrator, and mechanic of the Alpha squad." The moment she uttered those words the entire base went deathly silent causing the men and women around the vehicles to look around at the others in confusion. You could hear the mechanics that had been working through the noise drop their tools in shock, the soldiers marching in unison stop, and the soldiers doing punishment cleanings and workouts freeze. Just as fast as the silence rang out a murmur burst through all the soldiers before Lennox joined in with a pale complexion.

"THE Alpha squad?" Lennox questioned as Epps and Figgs looked at each other with wide eyes.

"Well damn." Was the only answer from Epps.

"Sir, yes sir." Acirah responded, catching a few soldiers starting to give dirty looks and to sneer.

"I thought all of the squadron died in an ambush?" Graham asked in confusion before being shushed by Figgs.

"... " Acirah said nothing, but already was feeling herself wanting to find a hole to hide as everyone stared. More so then her old base.

Ian furrowed his brows in sheer confusion for a moment, not understanding what she meant or what was going on, but he decided he'd look into it later. "Don't let me catch you slacking off or I'll have you shipped off this island faster then you can blink." Was all he said to her before returning to his spot for announcement.

Acirah blinked, did he not know about... well the rumors?

Ian began speaking, placing the new recruits in their own special units, and Acirah made sure to stand at attention. She tried hard to ignore the soldiers now casting her looks ranging between curiosity to animosity and she frowned as her gut clenched with guilt, knowing exactly WHY they all looked at her like that...

"-Renaldo with our medic Ryan Chett." Orion's voice was now speaking and Acirah cursed herself for tuning out the conversation once again. A cute Mexican man in his mid to early twenties moved from the rookie lines and over to Ryan Chett. His hair a dark dark brown and his eye's matching while he stood next to the rescue hummer with the medic Ryan.

"I can't wait to start training under you." Renaldo said with a deep heavy accent and a small flashy white smile that made half the women on base swoon. "I've heard a lot about you from the others Chett, sir! I can only hope I'll be as good as you some day." He however, payed no attention to the girls and seemed completely excited on getting more experience as a medic, for it was his dream.

Very briefly a few soldiers murmured about the newbie being a 'suck up' and Ryan Chett eye'd his new student before giving a gruff humph. "We'll see about that." Was the only reply he'd offered before pushing up his glasses and leading Renaldo away to speak about rules and what his first assignment would be.

"Anita, Lorean, and Daliah will be with out motorcyclist triplets; Aria, Mia, and Flora." Orion continued as Anita; a cream blonde with grey eyes, Lorean; a light brunette with brown eyes, and Daliah; a tall and BEAUTIFUL dark skinned female with black hair and bright green eyes made their way over to the three motorcycle females.

"Hello." Anita greeted with an excited smile to Aria who stared quizzically at Anita.

"I can't wait to begin." Lorean spoke monotonously to Mia who groaned at the greeting, not looking forward to working with someone who appeared to be a 'stick in the mud'.

"This is gonna be fun!" Daliah smiled softly, but her eye's were a light with pure excitement while she looked at Flora who smiled back in equal excitement that she was gonna have the ' _fun_ ' partner.

It went on and on like this for a while until finally Acirah heard her own name called. "Leah Celes and Acirah Byrnes will be with out weapons specialist Ian Hyde."

Stepping up next to Acirah, who was in the same spot as before, was a beautiful Indian women with russet color skin and black hair coming down like a waterfall to her shoulders. Hard black/brown eyes were staring out in determination to their commanding officer and her stance was that of a strong soldier. This would be her partner in this place... Their commanding officer's gaze was hard and calculating, clearly not that pleased to be stuck with two people to train, but he took Orion's placed and lay down a few rules that were basically common sense such as; Listen to every word he said, no complaining, no skipping out on training, stick to his regime, keep personal life out of work, no slacking off, ABSOLUTELY NO excuses for being late, and if they failed to meet his expectations they would be shipped out.

It wasn't until about an hour to two hours after placements and introductions that Acirah and Leah Celes were lead to their shared room on base and Acirah let out a puff of air in annoyance. She could tell that their commanding officer would be hard to get on the good side.. he wasn't to enthusiastic about them on his team...

"You want this side of that side?" The voice of her new partner tore her from her thinking and Acirah stared at where the other woman was pointing.

"Uhm... that side?" Acirah pointed to the right side of the room in question while staring awkwardly at her... partner.

"I've already chosen that side."

She openly stared at the girl and an awkward silence passed, her briefly wondering why she bothered asking her what side she wanted in the first place if she had already chosen, but it wasn't until 5 minutes into the awkward stare down that Acirah growled out a sigh. "You know what this is?" She started after shoving her things onto the left side of the room. "This is that awkward moment collage students get. We're not in collage, but I'll play your game. You're trying to see if I'm a normal girl, I'm trying to see if YOU'RE a normal girl. Balance, unmedicated, nothing under the crawlspace?"

Leah smirked in amusement and nodded. "Good personal hygiene, won't stab me in my sleep?"

It was Acirah's turn to nod. "No criminal record, won't steal anything?"

Once more Leah nodded. "Trust worthy, wont turn on me in battle?"

Though she flinched at the trustworthy part, being what had happened with the Alpha Squad , she wondered if she really COULD be a trust worthy person considering what had happened before? And yet she knew she would try her hardest to NEVER have a repeat like that EVER again... with that thought, she nodded before preparing for sleep as it was starting to get late and they wanted to be well rested before tomorrow would come when Commander Hyde would test them on just how strong and ready they were to be a soldier of N.E.S.T.

And ask Acirah finished setting up her side and laying down for sleep, she was VERY much aware of Leah watching her.

Truth be told, Leah was quite curious. She HAD heard the rumors of what happened to the ever so famous Alpha squad her partner had been on but she also wanted to hear Acirah's side of the story. After all, everyone's version was different right? Perhaps for all they knew it was a huge misunderstanding? So far this Acirah Byrnes didn't seem so bad even though it was just the first meeting. But Leah supposed she'd get to know her partner more during their long period of training to come.

...yay...

...

...

...

A dark snarl echoed all around as a large black/blue metal fist slammed into the wall. "Disgusting cretin!"

"Easy Ironhide."

"So... she abandoned all of her comrades?"

"Can she be trusted on our base? What if something happens?"

"And if she attacks a fellow soldier? We could be putting our comrades in danger!"

"Enough." All stood at attention at the stern voice and there in the main hangar stood the ever powerful and well respected Optimus Prime, known to all as an autonomous robotic organism from the planet Cybertron. A Cybertronian, or if it were easier to say, an Autobot and the very leader of the faction of aliens from another planet. "We will not be doing anything."

"But sir!"

"Are you certain that is wise?"

"Optimus..."

"That is final." He said as he narrowed his optics. Before him was Field medic Ratchet who had brought up the files of one 'Acirah Byrnes' while all the other Autobot's stood behind during the meeting that had been called to discover just who this person was and WHY the soldiers of N.E.S.T reacted the way they did to her presence. "I believe there is more to this story." He wisely humm'd in thought, there had to be. "And Acirah Byrnes may be hiding it."

"Then let me interrogate her!" Weapons specialist Ironhide growled as he cocked back his cannon. If there was one thing he absolutely despised it was cowardice. To abandon your own comrades in arms to die was one of the biggest acts of cowardice, how could one just up and leave while the squad they were on was brutally murdered? This Acirah Byrnes had no place as a soldier and he did NOT want to deal with a person who was low enough to abandon their brother in arms... It just reminded him of the war back home, of how he too had been abandoned by someone he trusted, someone he called a brother who left him to die.

But of course he got out of the situation with barely a hope to survive, but he did. He pulled through like the strong mech he was and he hunted down their betrayer and slaughtered him just as he had allowed their team to be slaughtered in cold blood... Ironhide didn't want that happening to anyone, not on his watch.

"Easy, we do not know the full extent to the story, it is very clear that some information has been taken out and is missing." Ratchet started, he was certain that there was more to this as well, however Ironhide interrupted him.

"It's all right there, how is that not enough for you?"

"You're just pissed that you are stuck with the squishy human." Came the disgusted sneer of Sunstreaker who stood with his arms folded next to his oddly silent twin brother Sideswipe.

"I do not fully believe this information." Optimus spoke up, "There is more then meets the eye."

"What will we do Optimus?" Flareup questioned from next to her sisters, Arcee and Chromia, a frown marring her expression. "What if she posses a threat to our charges?"

"For now, we go about our daily routine and plans as if nothing has changed. Do not act as if you know, treat her normally. We will only observe this Acirah Byrnes very closely and should she try anything she will be stopped. I want you all, when you get the chance, to try and befriend her, perhaps we can find out what she is hiding, and we will decide then and there once we have all the information and evidence we need." Optimus decided before turning to Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. "I want you two to get closer to her, try to gain her trust."

"What?" Sunstreaker questioned. "I don't think I heard you correctly."

"You heard me." Optimus sighed.

"You can't be serious! Me? Around... that?! Prime you kno-" Sunstreaker paused when Optimus sent him a look of finality and Sunstreaker bristled in anger before snarling and turning to leave, having known better then to go against his leader when he was this serious. That did NOT however mean he was pleased in the least to be stuck with... a human of all things! They were small, annoying, loud, disgusting, and filthy! How'd he managed to get stuck with one? Let alone a messed up, untrustworthy one!

"Who's stuck with who now?" Came Ironhide's teasing sneer before said weapons specialist transformed and sped out of the Autobot hangar unhappily.

The weapons specialist was not happy to deal with this... this traitorous wast of flesh either but he had a plan formulating in his processor, he'd work her to the bone. Train her and grind her down until she broke and quit, or showed her REAL true color's and he'd be waiting for it. Ironhide wouldn't let someone so untrustworthy risk the safety of their already human allies and he'd be damned if he let them come to harm!

He would protect HIS squad and family even if it meant the loss of a human.

"Welcome to N.E.S.T indeed."


	3. Phase 1 'Evaluation'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Becoming a full fledged soldier to N.E.S.T wasn't going to be easy, Acirah knew this. First, they'd test everyone's endurance and capabilities to preform tasks and obstacle courses. Then, they'd see how well they'd do under stress test's and situations. All gauging how the soldier's react to situations and testing to see if they have what it takes to become a soldier. After that they'd be either let in or let go and Acirah's commander wasn't going to make it easy on her, she could already tell.
> 
> He was going to make it hard for her to pass. Luckily she had a few... allies to help her along the way.

~Next Morning~

"Alright maggots!" Acirah stood at attention as soon as the voice of Ian sounded. Body straight and eye's forward, she stood perfectly still at Leah's side while Commander Hyde came around to the front of them. She shifted ever so slightly under his blue eyed glare and mentally frowned as she felt a shift in his demeanor when looking at her. "First thing's first, We'll be doing a joint training session today with the other new recruits." He began gruffly as he gestured to the other newbies from last night. "This will tell us exactly where you're at and what needs to be worked on."

"Haven't we proved enough by getting here?" A voice from the line called making a few of the seasoned soldiers glance at each other nervously when Ian turned sharply to the recruit who had spoken out of turn. The recruit flinched back as the Commander marched over until he was about a few inches away from the recruits face.

"You may think you're ready to join N.E.S.T but you are dead wrong. You might think you're something but as of this moment before me, you are all nothing. Worthless. Weak. The lowest of the low." Ian replied coldly. "And until you can prove yourselves otherwise with your assigned training regime, you will STAY that way or even be removed from the program." He took a moment to absorb the expressions of all the new recruits as he backed away from the now intimidated boy before continuing. "N.E.S.T isn't looking for anyone who cannot do what is assigned to them and if you think you have it hard, or if you think that you cannot handle what is thrown at you then I suggest you pack up your bags and leave. There is NO room for weaknesses." He finished before nodding to Lennox who nodded back.

"We'll start off with testing your Speed and Endurance." Lennox started before gesturing to the obstacle course behind him. "You'll run this course in a team of two. Two teams will run together, one to the right and one to the left. Those who cannot complete the course will be evaluated and tested further. If you do not pass the evaluation you will be removed from the program."

Behind William Lennox, Acirah noted after zoning out a bit, was a very large obstacle course that she had failed to take in before. This obstacle before them consisted of many contraptions such as climbing walls, rappelling walls, even what appeared to be a giant latter of sorts that Acirah remembered from her maggot days before she even joined the Alpha Squad. Her team and her had to climb up an over in a certain amount of time and more often then not they got someone who was scared of the heights. There were mud pits you had swing over, pits you had to climb in under barbed wire and some she didn't even recognize. It was definitely intimidating looking for any who were unprepared but also kind of fun looking. Especially for someone like her who had been out of action for a while.

That made her internally cringe as she may or may not be a bit rusty..

"Bet you never had this kind of jungle gym in school." Leah muttered next to Acirah who in return blinked before sending her a small amused smirk.

The two turned back to Lennox again as his voice reached them. "This course will test you on how far you can go, how much you can do. It will test your speed, your endurance, and it will test your reliability with a partner."

"For this test." Epps spoke up, startling a few recruits who hadn't even heard his entrance. "Your partner is your life line. Top priority." He continued. "If you finish this test and leave your partner behind you will fail. If you fall off of the obstacle you both will start over again and continue doing so until the time is up."

"How long do you want us running it?"

This newbie was asking for it, Acirah thought to herself as Epps scowled over to him.

"Till we're satisfied." Ian snapped making the grunt swallow thickly as the commander stared him down harshly.

There was no way this guy was going to last if he kept this up, Acirah continued to think to herself, she had no doubt that at the end of the exercise he would either get his ass chewed out for talking out of turn and so disrespectfully and be pulled from the program, or get another chance but be run to the ground by being made to run the course continuously.

"Now then, get in line! Partners of two to my left and to my right!"

The new recruits scrambled as the order was issued and they quickly got into the lines that he had ordered them. Acirah and Leah went to his left side, standing next to each other (and behind a few other soldiers who were going first) and nodding to one another. Though they'd just met last night, as partners for this they were going to have to trust each other and lean on the other. Despite the uncomfortable feeling within her gut, Acirah shoved it down knowing this was needed if she were to continue on. She had to be nice, had to be at least a little open. This was her teams dream, her fist clenched tightly and she grit her teeth back as emotions began wracking through her wildly. She swore she'd continue their dream for them, to be a soldier of N.E.S.T. She couldn't mess up again, she couldn't let anyone down again. Acirah closed her eye's tightly as she breathed in deeply to calm down, unaware that the soldier known as Orion Pax was watching her closely.

"Hey." Leah swatted her shoulder making her turn to her and then to their right as Daliah and someone she didn't know appeared together. Behind them was Lorean and Anita, and behind her and Leah were Renaldo and another whom she didn't recognize.

"This looks exciting." Daliah exclaimed with excited green eye's, her chocolate brown cheeks were stretched wide as pearly white teeth gleamed from behind her lips in her grin. If you asked Acirah she was far to pretty to be a soldier, but one thing you had to avoid to do was underestimating people. For all she knew, underneath the woman's delicate looking features could be a powerful soldier just waiting to get out.

"I guess." Her partner grunted, seeming as if he just wanted to get this over with.

"Go!" A whistle blew and the group of new recruits turned their attention forward to watch as four soldiers took off and towards the obstacle. There was a pause before another whistle blew and the next four soldiers took off.

Again and Again until it was nearing their turn, the area growing louder and louder with the shouts of recruits, seasoned soldiers, and Ian who yelled at the lagers to get moving. The course did seem rather taxing mostly for those unprepared, She mused while watching as one team fell off of the second obstetrical which consisted of a mud pit with a swinging rope, and landed with a very loud splat. But she was confident her and Leah would be able to get pretty far into the course before tiring out. After all, despite her being mostly inactive with the exception of training back on the old base, she was rather energetic and perhaps deep down she wanted to prove not to just everyone around her who were casting her calculating stares and mistrustful scowls, but to herself and the memory of the Alpha Squad that she had what it took to carry on their dream.

Even if she felt unworthy to do it.

"Heads up." Leah said as the ones in front of them were almost a safe distance.

"Yes!" Daliah cheered, her partner rolling his eye's.

"Ready?"

"We were born ready." Daliah replied to Lennox who blinked at her in confusion and cast a look to Leah and Acirah who in turn shrugged.

"Uh... okay. Go!" William barked after the blow of the whistle, his voice bellowing over the shouts of the other's as they ran the course.

Like a bullet, the four soldiers shot off towards the first set of the course which was the typical tire course where they had to race over it carefully and avoid hitting anywhere but the middle of the tires with out touching the edges. This course was simple enough for the group of four and they breezed right through it, taking note of Ian jogging beside them and watching their every move. Once reaching the end, the group moved on to the next set which was the mud pit and rope swing. They ran up to the rope, grasping on with a tight grip, before swinging over. Once they landed on the other side in almost perfect unison, the four paused ever so briefly to turn back to the pit when loud cursing reached their ear's and they spotted one soldier stuck in the mud pit while his partner tried encouraging him to pull himself out. 

However the soldier seemed to have gotten himself quite stuck and the group of four turned to share a look. With a nod, Daliah walked over and motioned to her partner who grasped her hand. Leah followed, Acirah keeping up too, and grasped Daliah's partners hand and Acirah took Leah's to form a human rope. With her hand clutching at the wooden ramp that lead up to the rope, Acirah gave Leah some slack who in turn gave Daliah's partner slack and he to Daliah who leaned over the pit dangerously, close to almost face planting into the mud as her hands reached for the trapped soldier.

"Private Byrnes what are you doing?!" Ian's voice echoed.

"You said this was a team effort did you not?" Leah replied making Ian glance to her.

"You and your assigned partner."

"If we focused on ONE person then we wouldn't be a very good unit would we?" Daliah mused before encouraging the soldier to grab her hand. "Almost there! Give me a bit more slack."

Acirah scowled for a moment, she couldn't really give much more slack and she noted with a slight alarm that the soldier was actually sinking a bit. What kind of course was this? She furrowed her brow's as idea's and plans raced through her head and one seemed like the most probable one of working. Pulling back on their human rope, Acirah wrapped her legs around the wood post tightly which allowed more room for the slack Daliah need who in turn cheered when her hand grasped the trapped solider.

"Okay, pull!"

Using the strength in her legs, Acirah pulled herself towards the post. Almost losing her grip a few times, She managed to latch onto the post and pulled hard enough to allow Leah to latch onto the post and repeat the process until the once trapped soldier was now yanked on the safe ground.

"You need a bath." Daliah mused. "And not another mud bath."

The soldier who was trapped began to laugh at what she said before his partner helped him up. They thanked the four before returning to the back of the line to try the course again.

"Now that you're finished screwing around." Ian's voice broke them from watching as the two had went to the line. "Get moving!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

They continued onward and came up to the third part of the course, a giant ass wooden latter that was the perfect size for say... well a giant. This one was going to be a bit more tricky, Acirah frowned as she looked up to the sheer size of it. She may or may not have a small fear of heights... Gulping to herself, Acirah shoved her fear away with a mental reminder that she'd been higher.

Fell off higher.

And survived higher.

"You okay?"

She turned to Leah who frowned at her.

"I'm okay." She assured before taking a breath. "Lets go."

The four nodded to each other before starting their climb, and the higher they got the higher Acirah felt her heart leaping and pounding as she continued her mental mantra 'I've been higher, fell off higher, survived higher.' She repeated as they climbed, ignoring the harsh thumps in her chest, or the slight sheen of nervous sweat when accidentally looked down. They were rather high.

She pulled herself up, pushed herself further along while continuing to repeat the mental mantra until finally she got to the top and robotically swung her foot over and somewhat shakily began to climb down with Leah, Daliah and her partner. She thanked god multiple times when her feet finally hit the ground before she felt Leah pull at her to continue onward, the sound of Ian barking at Daliah's partner who was slower then them to hurry up and get down the latter. Once HIS feat hit the ground the four ran towards the next course which this time was a climbing wall with very small plastic like 'rocks' that ranged from big to small to awkwardly placed. Beneath the wall was a pit filled with water in case someone fell and a little bridge led up to the the wall. Leah went first, followed by Acirah, to the left side and vaulted up the wall. Before she could follow, Acirah narrowed her eye's in thought for a moment before removing her uniform's gloves so they wouldn't effect her when trying to grab the small rocks. She then vaulted up as well once she was satisfied, Daliah and her partner starting on their side.

Her hands grasped at the wall, pulling herself up while her feet pushed and she found herself catching up to her partner quicker then she thought she would. Her hands grasped each and every rock, not really thinking much, and when she grasped a certain part the little plastic rock wiggled making her pause to stare at it startled and yelp when the rock slipped from its supposedly 'secure' spot in the wall. Luckily enough for her she had a better grip on another rock and she watched as the one that fell clattered down the wall before splashing into the water.

This would be more tricky then she thought, Acirah growled mentally before shooting her eyes up at the sound of Leah's curse. "Look out!" A few rocks had slipped towards Acirah and she somehow managed to swing to another side of the wall to avoid the falling debris, ignoring the stares of the soldier's around them and the barks of Ian as he ordered other soldiers around to quit gawking.

Leah cursed again when she lost her grip and slid down a bit before catching herself, only she was slipping.

"Jump over!" Acirah shouted and Leah leaped towards her.

Acirah held tightly to the wall, (Making sure it was sturdy enough) while her other hand had reached out and caught Leah's outstretched one. The russet colored woman slammed into the wall with a grunt, the weight of her partner pulled Acirah from her sturdy grasp and they both began to fall. When they descended, both did their best to try to catch themselves on any part of the wall they could and at the last second Acirah managed to grab onto one while she kept her partner from fully slipping, giving her enough time to cling onto the wall with a pant.

"You okay?" Acirah panted for a second, the fall scaring the crud out of her despite the knowledge of water beneath her.

"Y-yeah. I'm good." Leah coughed before securing herself as well. "Thanks..."

"Lets climb closer together, if one of us falls then the other will be there to help them."

"Okay."

They both nodded to each other and were about to continue when they turned their attention to the opposite wall where Daliah was with her partner. Their wall was also crumbling however instead of trying to help one another, Daliah's partner ignored her cry for help and allowed her to fall while he climbed on. Said soldier felt that this was just a training session so it didn't really matter. Shaking her head, and swearing she was getting a headache as Ian began to chew the soldier out for abandoning his team mate, Acirah climbed with Leah's urge and the two finally reached the top before staring forward at a wooden bridge held by rope leading towards what looked like monkey bars. Acirah turned to her partner with a small smirk.

"This isn't your typical school jungle gym." She stole Leah's earlier words.

"No, but it'll be fun to shove all their low expectations down their throats." Leah purred making Acirah chuckle lightly. "Well, even though we're just starting out as partners... I've got your six."

Acirah gave a soft smile at that and nodded. "And I've got yours." She replied before they crossed the bridge before them. 

The day seemed to drag on as they went through the course, swinging across the monkey bars, climbing, crawling, becoming really friendly with the mud, getting cloths stuck to the barbed wire over the mud crawl, swimming through icy cold water's and so forth. To make matter's worse for them it had began to pour from the sky, drenching all the soldiers who were already slick with sweat and the grime of the ground. Shouts could be heard from Epps, Lennox, Ian and one other that Acirah hadn't made the acquaintance of. Quite a few of the new recruits couldn't handle the full entirety of the course and were pulled out to be evaluated to see if they had potential to be trained enough to handle it in the future. Some failed the evaluation and were sent off, but quite a bit endured the course and were panting in exhaustion by the time the sun began to go down. Many had been given to 'ok' to be finished and were promptly flopped upon the ground, chatting with a few other recruits while they rested and watched remaining recruits going through the test. Ian was a harsh instructor, it seemed, and Acirah watched a long with Daliah (noting how Daliah's partner was now else were on base and Acirah assuming he'd been in trouble for abandoning his partner) and Leah as a recruit who was failing miserably was currently being barked at.

"Do you think in a different life he was a dog?" The trio turned to the new voice and spotted the man they'd assisted in the mud pit and he grinned down to them. "Y'know cause of how much he barks."

"..."

"Er..." He laughed awkwardly before turning to Daliah. "Uh I've been assigned as your partner since the other guy sorta..."

"Abandoned me despite having been told in the beginning that our partner's were a key to passing? Yeah." Daliah humphed in aggravation. "I'm Daliah, Daliah Holten."

"Nice to met you." He said. "I'm Dakota Epps, friends call me Kota." ( _ **An; K-Oh-Duh**_ )

"Epps?"

"Yeah," Dakota laughed sheepishly as he sat down next to Daliah and stared at the person in question who spoke up, which was Leah. "Epp's is my father. Guess you could say I took after him huh?"

"No kidding." Leah said, her tone seemed bored. "You're an exact replica, only younger."

Indeed Dakota did look like an exact replica of his dad, but younger. From his facial features, to his bald head which was covered in a dirty bandana, and brown eye's, to the size and form of his body and his pearly white smile. It made the group wonder if Epps cloned the guy instead of having him and they wondered if anything Dakota had was from his mother.

"Thanks!" He chuckled before turning as Renaldo came up to them with the unknown partner he'd gotten paired up with earlier.

"Hey." Renaldo said as he and his partner sat down. "What are you guys up to?"

"Introductions." Acirah spoke.

"Oh. Good." The guy who came with Renaldo spoke. "I'm Seth, Seth Browers." The newbie introduced. Seth had, now that Acirah was observing,  dirty blonde hair and light blue eyes. He looked to be about eighteen years old with a medium built body, some muscle and some pudge, but appeared pretty fit. His attitude seemed hurried, almost over energized as if he could run a million laps and still have energy to do more.

"Acirah Byrnes."

"Leah Celes."

"And since I haven't introduced myself to you two, I'm Dakota Epps."

"Renaldo."

"Since you maggots are all antiquated now," The soldiers turned to an irritated looking Ian. "And since you can't seem to pay a lick of attention," He growled. "It's time to go to the mess hall."

"Sorry sir!" Renaldo stiffened while the other's stood at attention.

"When you're done eating." Renaldo turned to Ryan Chett as he came forward with a grouchy expression. "Meet me in the medical bay, you too Browers."

"Sir, Yes sir!" The two responded before taking off, followed by Daliah and Epps who followed after Flora when she appeared before them not but a few moments ago and had motioned for them to follow her.

With them gone, it left Leah and Acirah by Ian's side who stared them down and, albeit reluctantly, he gave a nod of what appeared to be a small form of approval. "You have done well with your first day." He grumbled, eyeing them. "Now go eat. I expect you ready in 0800 hours"

( _ **An: I think that's how you say it. I'm still learning about military stuff so if I miss anything please no flames, Telling me is fine, I'm willing to learn ^___^**_ )

"Sir, yes sir!"

"Dismissed!"

Ian, Aka Ironhide, grumbled to himself as he watched the two femme's leave towards the mess hall. Through out the entire exercise he watched Byrnes and Celes like a hawk even when he scolded the seemingly brainless nitwits that were the other new recruits. The two seemed to work well together and from what he saw in their determination to complete the course they seemed to be qualified to train under him. No that he was very happy about it, he grumbled to himself as his ire rose at the thought of Byrnes passing the test. He had hoped she would fail the first part of Phase 1, but there was still more to go and 2 more phases before they would rank up from maggots to soldiers of N.E.S.T. 

His eye's glanced around for a moment, searching for any sign of Sunstreaker or Sideswipe but he didn't see any. He wasn't sure when they'd begin their own part of the plan to get close to the girl and try to uncover her secrets. What were they waiting for exactly? He hummed in thought, who knew what those two were planning but until then he would continue their evaluation just like every other maggot went through and if Byrnes passed then he'd run her away with his training.

A triumphant smirk appeared on his face, yes. He'd train her into the ground until she gave in. After all there was no room for scum like her on his team, nor in their operation. A soldier who abandons their fellow soldiers was scum. Ironhide grunted before walking towards the mess hall to watch over his two 'pupils'.

And as he neared he paused at the sound of raised voices with a raised eyebrow. Especially with Ratchet shouting as well...

"What is this stuff?" Dakota's voice rang out.

"Is it edible?" Daliah's voice inquired next.

"I think they're trying to poison us." Seth's came next as he whined.

"Gross..." That one was Anita Fitspatrick who worked under Arcee's Holoform Aria.

"It's healthy!" Ratchet's voice growled.

"How is this healthy? It looks like it could come alive any minute!" Dakota argued.

"I'm a medic! I know what I'm talking about!"

"You may be a medic but you sure as hell ain't no cook! You should get a different profession doc." 

"..."

"Is it healthy to turn that color?" Daliah's voice questioned in concern.

"Uh... doc? What are you doing with that?" Dakota cautiously questioned.

"He's got a wrench!" 

"EAT YOUR FOOD AND SHUT IT!"

"AHH! THAT HURT!"

"He's like a mass murderer waving that thing around as if it were a hatchet!"

Ironhide snorted and tried very hard not to bust out laughing as a deadly silence started, his holoform ear shoved to the door as he listened. That soldier should not have said that.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING HATCHET?!"

Well one thing was for sure, Ironhide mused as he opened the door to see Ratchet, aka Ryan Chett, chasing a few soldier's around with his wrench while Leah and Acirah watched with wide eye's. Despite his disgust for the girl, he turned to both of them with an amused sneer. "It would be wise to steer clear from the good doctor's line of sight."

"No kidding." Acirah muttered, glad she was still wearing her helmet.


	4. Phase 1 'Base Assistance'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Acirah and the other's are instructed to help around the base while her commander came up with a training regime for her and her partner Leah to follow. While instructed to help with the shipment for the good doctor's items, Acirah manages to meet two brother's (Twins) who seem to be the trouble maker's of the base when they ran into her. Quite literally. Sid seemed nice, but this Sean guy was an absolute prick.
> 
> She could tell they'd be trouble for her in the future.

**_ There's not much in this chapter action wise as its just a chapter of Acirah getting into the first of many routines she'd have to do in base. It took me a while to write because I couldn't figure out what to write for this chapter so I figured it would just be a chapter of her settling in further and being introduced more to others.   
_ **

_..._

_..._

_..._

_Fire._

_..._

_Screaming..._

_Her hands covered her ears as she cried, trying to block the sound._

_Pain..._

_Her skin began to burn, like fire licking and biting at her flesh._

_So much pain..._

_She was in so much pain! Lips parted to scream and gasp for air only to come out in hacking coughs as smoke filled the lungs. The billowing black cloud was suffocating her and making her eyes water, drowning in the smoke._

_C-can't breath..._

_Air... Need air!_

Acirah lunged from her cot, choking and grasping at her throat while her eye's frantically scanned her surroundings. Gone was the biting flames that attacked her flesh and quiet was the night in placement of the ear splitting screams that previously echoed in her ears. She took in greedy gulps of air as her tense body slowly started to relax when her eye's fell upon Leah still fast asleep on the right side of their shared quarters, wrapped up in her cover's like a burrito. Their room was still somewhat plain, still in the process of being decorated, but a few poster's were up on Leah's walls of intricate and beautiful Indian paintings. She shifted, feeling the cool blanket that she'd slept under falling down her body to hug only her waist while her right hand reached up to wipe the collecting sweat from her forehead. Once her breathing returned to normal she closed her eye's and grit her teeth, aggravation setting in at having the same nightmare once again, being haunted by the memories of her past.

She was so tired of remembering...

Letting out a sigh, Acirah allowed her hands to reach to the metal structure at the top end of her bed where the dog tags of her fallen comrades hung. She caressed them for a moment, allowing the smooth cold metal to brush over her fingertips, before sending a silent prayer to them for strength to endure and jumped when the morning trumpet sounded effectively ripping her from her mind mid prayer. Leah gave a groan from across the room, grumbling after a moment as she went tumbling out of her bed before looking over to Acirah with a scowl and glare that would scare the devil himself. Giving a slight semi-forced chuckle, Acirah got up from her bed and hurried to get dressed in her... spare uniform. She put on her army pants, then her shirt before tying her jacket around her waste. Ian had instructed her before she went to sleep to not wear her helmet and mask today and though the comfort of having her face and emotions hidden was something she relied upon heavily, she knew she had to suck it up and follow her orders.

And so today she would go out bare before the rest of the soldiers, not something she wished to do...

"Not a morning person huh?" Acirah asked softly to her roommate after a moment, her roommate in turn growling in response.

That sounded suspiciously like a curse, she silently mused. Apparently Leah was NOT a morning person. Noted.

Acirah then began putting on her combat boots and making the bed to standard perfection when loud footsteps began echoing through the hall outside of their quarters. The two soldiers finished their beds just in time for Ian Hyde to come in looking tired and aggravated.

... Perhaps he needed morning coffee too?

"Alright Maggots." He gruffly began after giving a short inspection of the room. "Seeing as things ran later then it was supposed to yesterday your training regime with me has yet to be completed." He grunted. "Today you will run normal drills after you've eaten and then after that you will be working with other soldier's on base ranging from cleaning, prepping weapons and transferring supplies where they need to go. Celes you will be working with Mia's group on cleaning and prepping and Byrnes you'll be assisting a few other's in going down to the docs for transfer of supplies to Dr Chett. Now that you two ladies have your jobs for the day get to it!"

Acirah and Leah both saluted, replying with the typical 'sir yes sir' before immediately dispersing towards the mess hall where they could procure some food. And coffee, Leah really wanted some coffee. While they made their journey to said mess hall Acirah got lost in her thoughts and walked on auto pilot. It was only the second day of her stay on this base and so far she could already tell life wouldn't be boring like it had been on her old base where she just monotonously ran training drills and while she seemed to sense that she'd be running a bunch of drill's here as well, life looked like it would still be pretty busy outside of those drills. This base was more busy then she'd ever seen a base get, she had to dodge a few soldiers rushing about, and could easily fill and occupy her mind from things, not that she minded. With a nudge from Leah, Acirah picked up her pace and entered the mess hall with her partner only to pause mid step as her and her partner's eyes flashed over the tables and seats of the mess hall towards the back where the food station and cooks were.

Said station was currently surrounded by angry new recruits all crowding around the food, utensils and one scared and mousy looking woman. Whom Acirah assumed was the cook. The cook's eyes were wide open like a dear caught in head lights while the group of newbies were very much openly complaining about the food and the food from last night. Apparently after the previous nightmarish meal that Ryan Chett had ordered, the new recruits had banded together to 'fight the man' over the choice of food which didn't even look remotely appetizing now that she managed to get a good look at a more seasoned soldier's tray.

Said soldiers were scowling and cringing at the slop on their tray's.

"I-If you have an i-issue with the food then t-take it up with the d-doctor!" The 'mousy' cook shouted, obviously having enough of the rambling group. Her once wide innocent eye's were now hardened in anger and her round pudgy cheeks were ablaze with embarrassment from the humiliation she felt in front of all the other soldiers who were both eating and watching the scene. "I'll no-not go against my superior's orders j-just because you baby faced d-degenerates can't handle the p-prepared food!"

The cook, now that Acirah took in her form more, appeared very meek and small with dark brown hair and matching eye's. Her mouth was currently drawn into a scowl while her brows were furrowed with her aggravation. Despite her apparent stuttering problem, she appeared to have no issue making herself heard when need be. In response to her sudden outburst, silence now clung to the air of the mess hall. Soldiers and recruits were now openly staring at the now brave faced cook who previously looked frightened.

It was Dakota Epps who first broke the silence. "Well damn."

With a rolling of her eye's, Acirah pushed herself into the room more and tensed when all eye's turned to the new entries. Now that their eye's were on her, Acirah felt herself become even more vulnerable under their stares. She could feel the gazes on her, going from her abnormally red/orange hair to her hazel eye's before slowly roaming down and stopping at her least favorite part of her.

Scar's.

Tensing and feeling angered at all of this, Acirah pushed herself further into the room before silently walking towards the crowded food station while Leah went to hunt down a much needed cup of coffee. Acirah passed the rabble of new recruits before grabbing onto a tray and spared a tense and awkward smile to the cook before holding out her tray. The cook said nothing, preparing the food for the soldier before putting it upon the tray. With that out of the way, Acirah turned and weaved through the soldiers to grab some fruit before turning towards the tables and chairs, pointedly ignoring the whispers and looks. She found Leah, who was now sitting and drinking her coffee rather happily and glaring at anyone who bothered her while she tried drinking said coffee, and sat down.

Now feeling a bit better next to her partner, whom had seen Acirah's scars last night (Thankfully not asking her where she got them, what happened nor how many scars she had) when changing, she glanced to said partner when a cup of coffee magically appeared next to her. Nodding her head in thanks, Acirah then picked up her fork and stabbed it into the questionable slop fully preparing herself to take a bite when Leah nudged her. It occurred to her just how silent the mess hall suddenly became and with a wondering glance she noticed soldiers were now watching intently as she raised the fork full of food. Air thick with apprehension, the soldiers seemed to lean out of their seats as Acirah Byrnes lifted her fork full of food before ever so slowly bringing it towards her opened mouth and taking a bite. They watched as she chewed for a moment, as if testing something and then (with the silent recruits watching with bated breath) swallowed. Her eye's were now staring back at all the soldiers who were watching like a bunch of children awaiting the climatic ending to a story being told and with narrowed eyes she took another bite before proceeding to stop paying attention and instead have a murmured conversation with Leah who was starting to appear less grouchy after her coffee.

The food, in Acirah's opinion, wasn't completely horrible but it wasn't that good either. She could eat it, though she internally cringed at the texture.

"She ate it." Dakota's voice echoed as he blinked in shock, having been with the group of recruits complaining. he then turned to Seth, "Dude she ate it."

"She swallowed it." Seth added.

"She's still alive?" Renaldo moved next to the two other soldier's but tensed when he noticed something no one else had.

"No." The sarcastic drawl of a new voice startled the group that still stood near the food counter into whirling around to face an irritated Ryan Chett who appeared seemingly out of thin air. "She has fallen into the cold depths of death while sitting up and yet is some how managing to continue to eat and converse with her partner."

"..."

"Hehe, hiya doc...." Seth grinned sheepishly since his buddies weren't answering only his grin turned into a frown when the doctor seemed more irritated. Maybe he shouldn't have called him doc...

"..."

"I suggest," Ryan started after casting a glance to the stressed cook, "That you leave the cook alone and GO EAT YOUR FOOD!" Ryan growled, making the recruits yelp and hurriedly grab their meals before racing over to sit down at their own tables, least they have another episode like last night involving wrenches.

Those hurt after all.

"Was I even needed?" Ian came from behind Ryan with a smirk, earning a sly look from the medic.

"I can be just as intimidating as you." He said as if it were a fact. "Are you alright Miss Clark?"

The cook, brushing off her apron shakily, nodded her head as she fixed up her uniform. "I-I'm okay Dr Chett." She replied before smiling shyly over to the two men.

"They give you any more of a hard time then you let me know, Cassidy." Ian huffed, eyes glaring at the recruits who paled under his look and began shoveling the food down their throats. He almost snickered as he visualized tears running down their cheeks as they ate the odd concoction Ryan called food.

"I don't think th-that they will be a problem anymore." The cook now known as Cassidy smiled.

The mousy looking woman had been there for a while now and though she wasn't with the soldiers when they went out fighting, she was a soldier herself. Cassidy Clark mostly stayed at the base running around doing errands, the cooking unless Ryan had a fit if something wasn't healthy enough, and helping in any other department she could. She was well known by all the soldiers as the shyest of the bunch but when you made her mad not even the superiors could save you from her wrath.

Not that it was easy to anger her, she had a very good hold of her temper.

With a nod of his head, Ian left the girl to her work and made his way out of the mess hall to finish his original tasks followed by Ryan who was grumbling about the recruits under his breath.

Acirah finished her food, moving on to her fruit, when she suddenly felt like someone was watching her very intently and it caused her to pause to search out the sudden feeling. Her eye's scanned the chatting soldiers that were eating their food, skimming over a few faces that were slightly grimacing over their food or some that were in deep conversation on the day's plans, before she spied the familiar dirty blonde male she saw her first day there. Sid Twyne, if she remembered his name right, was leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room watching her and Leah. His brows were furrowed as his blue eye's locked onto her hazel ones, he almost seemed confused and slightly shocked as he very much so openly stared and it made Acirah wish she had her mask and helmet to hide herself away.

Why was he staring at her? Was he... was he bothered by her scars? Did she have food on her face??

For a moment the room went silent to her, muffled as they stared and she suddenly felt an urge to go over to him. She blinked in surprise for a moment, where did that thought come from? She shook herself mentally and shoved the feeling away before turning from his heavy gaze. She didn't notice Sean Twyne appearing and dragging his twin out of the room in a huff. Once her fruit and coffee were gone, Acirah and Leah stood to dispose of their garbage and wash their tray's and proceeding to head outside for daily training that consisted of running the course a few times. It was one of the things Ian had told them was a part of their regime which was to up their endurance, muttering about them needing it if they passed. For what? They didn't know.

It was two hours later that the duo was now on the grass panting, tired from their workout before hearing noise in the distance and causing them to look for what the disturbance was. Seth Browers could be seen shoving his way through other soldiers moving to work on who knows what, and appeared to be almost hyperly running towards Leah. "Leah!" He greeted with a grin. "You're with me, Lorean, and Anita today." He said, almost bouncing in place. "Cleaning and prepping weapons with Miss Chrome."

"Chill out." Leah commented as she warily watched his over energetic attitude, shoving herself into a standing position.

"He can't help himself." Renaldo commented as he jogged over and joined the group. "He's like the energizer bunny, constantly filled to the brim with energy." This caused Seth to chuckle in reply and lightly elbow the man in the side.

"You got that right, you'd think that he'd be tired after the course." Dakota joined next with a nod.

"You kidding me?" Seth scowled with comically raised eyebrows. "Dude! That course kicked my butt."

"Then how are you so filled with energy?" Renaldo asked unconvinced, Seth had barely stayed down to rest when they finished before he was up and about and some could swear with the amount of energy he had that the kid was inhuman.

"I dunno?" Seth blinked in confusion before grinning at Leah. "Anyway, ready to go?"

"I guess." Leah muttered before wiping off her uniform of any dirt that couldn't be seen.

He was hard to keep from smiling, Acirah noted as Leah reluctantly got up to follow. From what she'd seen of this Seth Browers kid was that he was a pretty happy go lucky kind of guy. Appearing as if he'd never had a bad day in his life. Though, none could never be too sure seeing as you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. You never know, perhaps it was a mask? Perhaps not. Either way, the kid was always seemingly in a good mood.

"Acirah, you're with me, Renaldo and Daliah today. She's already looking for a military vehicle to borrow to drive down to the docs for transfers. Looks like Dr Chett's supplies had come by boat and not by plane like we thought it would." Dakota spoke up after the duo left, looking down to the girl who had been leaning on her elbows while she watched the group conversing. "They're surprisingly early."

"I take it we will drive down to pick the supplies up and transfer them to the doctors medical bay?" Acirah questioned as Renaldo helped her stand and the younger Epps nodded in response.

With that done she then stretched for a moment before following after Dakota and Renaldo towards the area all the vehicles were placed to be looked at, fixed, tested and who knows what else when the trio spotted Daliah arguing with two other soldiers who were scowling at the seemingly angry female.

"We need one to get the supplies!" Daliah huffed at the two soldiers she was arguing with. One of the soldiers leaned forward, this one Acirah hadn't seen around yet and she was quite surprised by that fact as he had (Oddly enough) green, yes you heard it folks, green hair. This caused Acirah and Renaldo to falter in their walk to the arguing trio and ended up looking at each other questioningly.

Since when did soldier's have such color hair?

"Well we's sorry but we's under order not to let no one touch these here vehiculurs." The one with the green hair spoke, his voice clearly filled with annoyance, as he shifted from his previous position of leaning against one of the vehicles with his arms crossed. He was thin, kind of lanky really, and his outfit was a bit loose on him.

"Yeah." The other said, with... orange hair? Her and Renaldo looked to each other in surprise once more. "And we's not bout to disobey no order, no how." He continued, leaning on his right leg and scowling, showing what appeared to be a gold tooth in his scowl.

"Look here Buddy and Spenny!" Daliah started only to step back as the two bristled in anger.

"Its BUD and SPENCER femme." The orange haired and blue eyed soldier, now known as Bud, growled out annoyed. "Not no Buddy or that Spenny scrap."

"What's going on here?" Dakota asked while Renaldo moved past Acirah to try to calm the aggravated Daliah. "Whats a femme?" He muttered to Acirah under his breath.

She shrugged at him in response.

"We's under orders not to let these here vehiculars go till they be done with inspections." Spencer Kidz, Acirah read from his name tag, spoke up while glaring at Daliah.

"Vehiculars?" Acirah muttered next, they sure were... creative with their choice of words.

"And she's not taking no for answer." Bud spoke up next.

Upon further inspection they appeared to be identical aside from their difference in hair, another set of twins. Acirah furrowed her eyebrows for a moment in thought before glancing at two vehicles similar to Bud and Spencer's hair color along the side of the inspections area. If they were under order's not to let any vehicles go until they got word of clearance, then maybe-

"Could we borrow yours?" Acirah found herself asking before she could finish her train of thoughts and her question had Spencer and Bud rear back and blink at her.

"Ours?" They echoed for a moment and when it looked like they were about to protest Acirah decided to change tactics.

"Yes." She replied before they spoke as a plan formulated in her head. If she observed right then this should work. "We are under order's from our superiors, mine being Ian, to pick up some supplies from the doc's."

"I don't think-"

"I'm sure the higher ups would understand." Acirah began. "Ryan could really use his supplies."

The two brother's snapped their jaw's shut at that. "Uh, shipment for Ryan?" Spencer asked nervously.

She knew it!

"You's never said you were on an errand for doc..." Bud said next, nervously glancing around.

So they _were_ afraid of the doctor. Acirah mused for a second before she continued her plan. "Oh? My apologies... but could we? We're already late getting his supplies into the medical bay and I'd hate to delay him his medical supplies. I don't want you two getting into any trouble from delaying us." She hinted, semi threatening and using their obvious nervousness of the doctor against them.

The twins looked to each other in worry for a moment before the two nodded and gave them permission to use their vehicles and Acirah along with Dakota entered the green vehicle while Daliah and Renaldo got into the orangeish brown one.

"What the heck was that?" Dakota asked once they began the drive to the docs. "We're not late for the delivery we're early."

"Did you notice how scared they were when Ryan was mentioned? It's obviously he holds something over those two so I used it to my advantage. I don't want to get into trouble with Ian for not being able to complete the task he gave me for today because we didn't have a way to get Ryan his supplies." Acirah started. "And I didn't want to sit there and argue anymore."

"I guess you got a point there. Nicely done." Dakota chuckled before silence enveloped them and the group continued driving down to the docs.

When they arrived, the ship and crew were unloading crates of supplies onto carts and chatting amongst each other before glancing in their direction. Daliah and Dakota spoke with them for a while before the crew helped load the boxes into the trunks of the two vehicles they came with and bidding them farewell. The group made quick work getting the first two loads in the vehicles and drove near the side entrance to the base where the med bay was closest before dropping off the first of many loads.

"We'll have to make a couple more trips." Dakota noted as they finished unloading the first loads.

"Want me and Daliah to stay here and start bringing the loads into the Medical Bay?" Acirah asked.

Dakota thought for a moment before nodding. "That's a good idea, you guy's start transferring this batch while we get the second and when we come back we'll switch roles. Me and Renaldo will transfer the next batch while you two pick up the final batch and then we'll all finish transferring together."

With that plan in motion, Dakota and Renaldo took off to get more of the shipment while Daliah and Acirah loaded up a flat wagon full of large boxed. When it was full enough, she started pulling the wagon into the building and making the long trek down the halls towards the medical bay. Passing some soldiers along the way, Acirah took note how they ran about to do their own works or taking messages to others before she appeared before the oddly shaped door of the med bay. It almost looked like a giant door with a smaller door on it. Why would they do that? She wondered for a moment before shaking her head. She'd find out later, she thought to herself before reaching up to knock and announce her arrival. However before Acirah could make the first  knock upon the door a noise caught her attention as the door flung open and she found herself yelping as Sean Twyne came barreling into her.

The force of his hit sent the two crashing into the floor followed by Sid Twyne who had been on Sean's heels. Only Sid went flying over Sean and smashing into the wall behind them. Groaning in annoyance, Sean pushed himself up with a scowl before looking down to see what had gotten in his way and froze when he spotted the Hazel eye's of soldier Byrnes. An awkwardness filled the air as they stared momentarily before the male sneered in disgust and pushed himself off quickly, brushing his cloths off with a glare at the girl who got in his way.

"Watch where you're going." He snapped making the woman frown.

"Me? You're the one who crashed into me, maybe you should watch where YOU are going." She muttered as she picked herself off of the ground and brushed off her cloths as well before tensing when Sean took an intimidating step forward with a growl.

"Yo-"

"I know you!" The voice of Sid interrupted Sean's reply and the two who were glaring at each other turned to the owner of the voice who had picked himself up as well after embarrassingly slamming into the wall. "Acirah Byrnes right?"

"Yes?" She raised a brow at his question. He knew who she was.

"Right, I'm Sid and this is my brother Sean. I call him Sunny." Sid grinned to her before yelping when Sean knocked his brother across the head.

"Don't call me that."

"With a 'sunny' personality like that, the nickname fits." Acirah snickered only to freeze when both brothers looked at her. "... I said that out loud didn't I?"

"What did you say?" Sean narrowed his eye's at her but before any other action could be taken, cursing could be heard from the medical bay alerting the two brother's to WHY they'd been running in the first place.

"Scrap! Run!" Sid yelped when a wrench went flying through the door and hitting the wall where Sid used to be. Sean didn't need to be told twice and took off with his brother, not before tossing a glare at the girl behind him before leaving that is, and the two left her in the dust wondering what the heck just happened.

"Come back you pit spawn- Mrs Byrnes what are you doing here?" Ryan Chett appeared from behind her and looked at her in confusion.

And Acirah had to smack a hand over her mouth so as not to laugh as the good doctor was covered in glue and sparkling pink and blue glitter. His eye's narrowed at her, as if daring he to laugh at him to his face and she gulped down her laughter.

"Uh... Ian said you needed s-supplies." She stuttered out, clearly this was why the two brother's had been running in the first place. "And I've got the first load..." She trailed off after a moment before clearing her throat. "Uh... I've got some glue removal."

Ryan glowered at the girl more, he didn't want to admit that he couldn't get the glue off that the twins had plastered him with as it dried rather quickly but he also didn't want to run around base covered in glitter. At this point though it looked as if he would need assistance and allowed the female into the med bay along with the supplies. He didn't question why the girl had glue removal in her pockets, nor did he question any of the other odd items hidden in her many pockets in her army pants and jacket and instead let her apply the removal while making a mental note to get a stock of his own removal. This cement glue was most likely going to be used more in the future for the Twin's uses. It took a few hours, Him having to contact Ian to inform him that he was borrowing Acirah for a while and having to explain to the ones she was working with what happened, but the glue had finally come off.

During the time it took to take the glue off, 'Ryan' had a few patients to see to while Acirah put the supplies from the boxes away (while Dakota, Renaldo and Daliah transferred the boxes to outside of the room and Acirah brought them in to put away) to let the solvent soften the dried glue. She helped him with the placement of his tools, cleaned, and gave input on a few things he silently struggled with and all in all was surprisingly pretty helpful in the med bay where he thought she'd only be in the way. He'd even enjoyed their conversation's when he'd come to find out that she was close friends to a medic once who taught her a few interesting things and useful tricks. He thought back to what Optimus had told him, to get to know the girl and see what he could find out and Ratchet (AKA Ryan) continued to converse with the girl who seemed at ease around him. He managed to get a little from her and discovered that while she was the Spy/Infiltrator/Mechanic of her team she was also referred to as the MUTT of the group.

She explained to him how everyone had their own jobs they were good at but she loved doing a multitude of things and, like how they called people or dogs who were of multiple breeds or nations, she was dubbed Mutt for her talents in more then just her assigned area of expertise. Though she was no medic, she'd learned a bit under her friend who was more then happy to teach other's in the team how to exercise proper medical treatment. According to her medic friend the soldiers of the Alpha Squad were nothing but idiot's who constantly played with fire and could use a proper education in how to properly care for themselves as they were going to drive her to an early grave with the amount of stress from the MANY close calls they'd had.

Ryan noted how she suddenly went silent after that and was quick to change the subject to something else, something the female seemed very grateful for. He could see the longing in her eye's along with a building of intense internal sorrow... and it made him wonder if she truly regretted abandoning her team and wasn't just pretending. Perhaps living with the guilt was punishment enough for her...

When the day was finally over Acirah had made sure to clean up everything that was left over from their deliveries. Since her team had done most of the work she decided to take over the rest and told them to head back while she took care of the remaining things that needed to be done, saying it was only fair since they were out lifting and carrying boxes all day long. She threw away all the garbage that had accumulated from opening and removing the tape from the boxes before taking them into a storage unit for future use, glad that she'd put everything that had been in the boxes away earlier. The base was now silent as she walked the halls, pulling along the wagon she'd used to transfer the supplies from the car to the med bay to put it back in its proper place. With the base now silent and all noises aside from the squeaking of the wagon wheels being silenced, Acirah felt her mind wander back to what she'd talked to Ryan about. It'd been a while since she was able to talk about anything remotely good from her past with her team and it brought so many memories to the surface. Even if Ryan had noticed the look in her eyes talking about the team and tried changing the subject she still had it in her mind. Still felt the bittersweet memories and feelings clinging onto her heart making her chest feel more heavy. Closing her eye's before taking a deep breath, Acirah walked outside and looked around the outside base where vehicles were now put up along with the one her team had borrowed.

Renaldo, Daliah and Dakota had already taken the two vehicles back to Spencer and Bud after they finished the last transfer of shipments from the docs to the drop off spot. The two brother's weren't too bothered with them borrowing their car's but they also seemed kinda irritated before taking off and not looking back once. Once Acirah had placed the wagon back to where she'd gotten it she gave a large yawn and headed back to her room for a night of much needed sleep. And when her head hit the pillow upon her bed, Leah already lightly snoring in her own bed, Acirah barely managed to kick off her shoes before falling into a deep slumber filled with memories.

...

...

...

_"So... this is where we meet everyone huh?"_

_Silence hung in the air for a moment before a nod could be seen in reply. "Yup... We'll be meeting our new team. Thought of any names yet?"_

_"Ugh... no."  
_

_Acirah Byrnes stared at the male before her, watching as he ran a hand through his brown hair in nervousness. His body, fit and muscular, was taught with his mounting stress and his jaw line was set as his green eye's stared intently at the door in the room they lounged in. Willing for this meeting to be over and done with. She smiled slightly at his nervousness and shifted in her seat upon the table before reaching a hand out to lightly pat his shoulders. The man before her had been in her life for as long as she could remember, his name was Raymond Lawrence and he was her very best friend._

_"Don't be nervous." She encouraged, watching his eye's snap to hers.  
_

_Raymond scoffed at her, shifting uncomfortably in his chair, "Don't be nervous? Come on Rah." He spoke, using his god awful nickname for her causing the woman to scowl in aggravation._

_"Don't call me that." She snapped at him before cooling her features. "Everything will be fine."_

_"How do you know that? I've never lead before." He sighed, once again running a hand through his hair. "Of course I'm going to be nervous. How the hell do I know they'll listen to me? Just because I was bumped up to Commander doesn't mean shit..." He grumbled to himself. "We're going to be in a team of suicidal dare devils! I'm not counting us either, because I'm used to your stupid tendencies on the battlefield."  
_

_"My stup- Hey!" Acirah cried indignantly, pouting slightly. "You do stupid crap all the time! Most of which I have to save your ass from." She barked her defense. "Besides you were born a leader." She went back to trying to ease his mounting stress. "All my life you've always been the leading type so why wouldn't they listen to you? You've got that born aura where people just wanna listen to you! You're strong, dependable, brav-"_

_"Aww." The sudden coo from Raymond mad Acirah growl at him. "You got a crush on me Rah?"_

_Again with the nickname! She huffed up. "Dammit Ray stop calling me that!" She knew he'd never stop no matter how many times she snapped for him not to. He'd done it since high school! "And you WISH I had a crush on you. You can't get a woman as epically awesome as me."_

_Raymond paused, watching as Acirah took on a mockingly superior posture before flipping her hair and made a show of 'admiring' her nails with false fascination. "But who 'wouldn't' want me?"_

_"Oh damn babe you're right! I just can't help it anymore. You haunt my every dream!" He flung himself at her, hugging onto her legs and grinning when she began boisterously laughing with him. Of all the things Acirah was, being arrogant and vein was not one of them. It was completely the opposite with Acirah. She had low self esteem and didn't think too highly of herself but hid the feeling behind her sarcasm and jokes.  
_

_He tried helping her with it but it wasn't something that would go away so easily. Still, he was always so amused when she pretended to be one of those girls who thought themselves to be the best gift to man ever given and he'd just play along.  
_

_"Snob." He teased after a moment, getting up and sitting back down in the chair before his attention went to the door as it opened._

_"Uh... Is this tha righ' room?" A woman with a Texan accent peered in through the door, one hand holding a hat that sat above light blond hair while the other held the door open. Light green eye's shined from behind a pair of sunglasses, of which were sliding down her nose, before she stepped in followed by another woman but with dirty blonde hair and matching eye's to the other girls._

_"It's gotta be." The other spoke, adjusting her military uniform and fixing her hair into a tight bun to not get in the way before the two newbies stared at the people in the room, taking in the surroundings. The room they entered seemed like the typical meeting room, what with the large table surrounded by a bunch of chairs._

_"It is about time." A Mexican accented woman pushed her way through, ignoring the protests of the two women she shoved out of the way. This woman had brown hair and eyes, her body seemed to be fit as a fiddle, donning the typical military uniform but the jacket was tight around the waste, and her eye's bore into Acirah's and Raymond's with a judgmental air. "I'm Janice, Janice Santiago your assigned medic and these two are Maira Ray your designated Infiltrator-" She gestured to the dirty blonde haired woman. "-And her sister Amala Ray your designated spy." She gestured to the lighter haired of the two._

_"Nice ta meecha!" Amala grinned, her hand that was keeping her hat down was now adjusting it while the other fixed her sunglasses, causing it to glint in what little light was in the room._

_"Same." Mira said as she looked around the room._

_"Uh, Well met." Raymond started, "... This isn't it is it?"_

_"Of course not, however I preferred to arrive early." Janice spoke. "It is easier to get down to business after introductions are finished. I'll also need to run inspections of every member to give me a better look at what I'll be dealing with in terms of your health"_

_Acirah looked to Raymond for a moment with a slight cringe, Janice seemed like she was going to be a tough cookie to crack.  
_

_"Right." Raymond muttered before looking up as more people entered._

_"Is right place?" A heavily Russian accented voice called from the door next, and in entered a mammoth of a man with brown hair and matching eyes. When he was fully into the room, the inhabitants took sharp breath's as he stared Raymond down and his shirt seemed to strain under the bulging muscles of his body that towered over everyone. "Is right room, yes?"_

_"Holy shit." Raymond muttered as he took in the guy before him. "Uh, Ahem! I mean yes... You are...?"_

_"Rurik. Weapons Specialist." Was is simple reply before Rurik walked over to a seat and sat down, ignoring the noise of protest the inanimate object made as his weight started crushing it.  
_

_Forcing himself not to stare at the very visible scar's that littered this mammoth of a man's body, Raymond cleared his throat before asking his next question. "So uh, how many people will be coming?"_

_"_ _Just me for now. Hi, I'm Jackson Romero and I don't have a designated job yet." The last one coming in spoke, a scrawny black hair and grey eyed male stepped in and a small smile set on his face. "Nice to meet you all."_

_"... So THIS is it?" Raymond questioned, receiving a nod from Jackson._

_"The higher up's said this is all we got for now, to see how long we'd last as a team." Jackson started, ignoring the awkward tension in the air. "So! Introductions all set? Squad leader Raymond?"_

_"Acirah, you all set?" Raymond turned to his partner and friend who watched the new guys intently from her position on the table.  
_

_"Hm? Yeah uh... Ok so lemme make sure I got the names down. Amala our spy, Mira our infiltrator, Janice our medic, Rurik our weapons specialist, and Jackson our unknown?" She pointed to every person in question, making sure she got their names right._

_"Yup!" Jackson chuckled while the other's nodded._

_Acirah gave a grin before flinging herself off of the table. "Great!" She exclaimed before sending smirks at everyone. "Now it's time for the awkward bonding. Hi everyone! I'm Acirah Byrnes and I love the color's red and yellow-"_

_"Ketchup and mustard?" Amala interrupted._

_"- I like fighting and in my spare time I like pulling off pranks with Raymond. I'd watch myself if I were you." Acirah winked to all the people in the room before pausing when Raymond coughed nervously. "Everyone's a target."  
_

_"Don't tell them that Rah!" Raymond spluttered in embarrassment as the group looked to him with raised eyebrows. He wanted to maintain a stern appearance, even if that wasn't how he was. Who was he kidding? He hated having to be stern unless the situation called for it...  
_

_"What? Afraid I'll ruin your manly, intimidating leader image by replacing it with a manchild and womanchild pulling pranks? We're gonna be a team here. A family. We'll be knowing more about each other then our childish habbit's pretty shortly here Ray. Probably end up knowing more then we'll be comfortable with. Hey! Next thing you know we'll probably know what each other look's like Naked. I should warn you guy's he's got this silly tattoo that he got on his right butt cheek when he was drunk. Don't worry I got one too. It's on my left butt cheek."  
_

_"Really Acirah?" Raymond groaned while turning a little red. "Only you would be thinking about everyone being naked."  
_

_"... What's your tattoo look like?" Jackson asked curiously making Acirah smirk at him._

_"Well it's a match to Ray's of-"  
_

_"You don't need to know!" Raymond spoke up causing the group to laugh and the air that was once tense seemed to ease.  
_

_"So now that the awkward ice is broken-"_

_"-thanks to your normal weirdness." Raymond added in.  
_

_"-I think we'll all get along fine."  
_

_"Is good thing too. I like you already."_

_She turned to see Rurik standing over her with a smirk and she grinned up to the mammoth of a man. "Great! That's one down." She said in reply causing Raymond to sigh before smirking over at her. Despite her embarrassing him about the butt tattoo's she always knew how to break him out of his nervousness and get the people around her laughing. "And I also got an idea for a name for us. Welcome guy's to the Alpha Squad."_

_"The Alpha Squad?"  
_

_"Ah like tha' alot."_

_"Huh, not bad." Raymond said with a smile. "Alpha Squad it is."  
_

_..._

_..._

_..._

_ **Hello all! I know there wasn't too much to this chapter action wise but don't worry, as it progresses it will become more actioney. Tell me what you think? Idk what else to add to this AN so... that's it! I hope the ending to this chappie didn't seem rushed but I've been working on it adding and deleting so many times that I'm just like Okay. This is find. IDC.** _

_ **Comment! Kudos! Still dont know what that is. Love it! you don't have too but still. Wolfette needs lovins.** _

_ **Anyway. Love you all!** _

_**-Wolfette** _


End file.
